Searching
the Scriptures (In pamphlet form available
from Banner of Truth: Reading the
Bible

by

Geoffrey Thomas

Search the Scriptures John 5:39.

There are few greater privileges than to have the Bible in one's own
language. Over 450 years ago Erasmus expressed a hope that some day the farmer
as he followed the plough and the weaver as he sat at the loom would cheer
themselves with the message of Scripture. The thought burned in the heart of
William Tyndale who longed to give English-speaking people the Bible in their
own tongue. Arguing once with a man who disdained this hope Tyndale said, 'If
God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough
shall know more of the Scripture than thou doest'. At the cost of his own life
Tyndale fulfilled his ambition and for centuries we have had the Bible in
English.

There are an estimated 5103 languages in the world and at the close of the
twentieth century an 'adequate' Bible is available in only 225 of them, with an
'adequate' New Testament in 450 languages. Translation is in progress in over
800 languages and a further 600 have a definite need for translation. More than
half the languages of the world have no portion of Scripture at all. This
embraces perhaps 150 million people.

In many areas of the world there are severe restrictions upon the
publication and sale of the Bible. In one of his books Alexander Solzhenitsyn
describes a scene in a prison camp in Karaganda in Northern Kazakfistan where
Ivan Denisovich wakes in the morning to the sound of a fellow prisoner reading
his New Testament. 'Alyosha the Baptist was reading the Testament under his
breath (perhaps especially for him - those fellows were fond of recruiting):
"But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an
evil-doer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if a man suffer as a
Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf' [1
Peter 4.15 & 16]. Alyosha was smart: he'd made a chink in the wall and
hidden the little book in it, and it had survived every search.' (Alexander
Solzhenitsyn One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, p.25 Penguin ed.).

To have the Scriptures in our own language with a ready access to them and
complete freedom to study them - these are great privileges. Yet we can fail to
profit from the Bible and make little progress in understanding it. The
Christian life is paved with the best intentions of reading the Scriptures
regularly, and also with many broken resolutions and disappointments. Jesus
exhorts us to search the Scriptures [John 5.39]; that is, we are to ransack the
Word of God, to pore over it, subject it to every kind of analysis, and grasp
its every shade of meaning. We are to be obsessed with a desire to understand
it. This passionate concern is never to become incidental or secondary. It
should be a priority in the Christian life, an activity around which our
existence revolves. If man cannot live by bread alone but by every word which
proceeds out of the mouth of God, then God's Word must have an absolutely basic
place in the whole of our Christian life. To its reading we must apply
ourselves with the utmost industry.

The following are five basic suggestions to help you fulfill your
obligations to the Lord of the Word.

1 STRENGTHEN YOUR DESIRE

To keep reading the Bible regularly, self-discipline is essential. Many
people would like to lose weight; they talk about it frequently but do nothing.
Then one day they feel frightened. Walking up a hill, which in former days
presented no difficulty, they have to pause for breath, and to pretend they are
admiring the view. They may even feel some pains in their chest and their
doctor tells them that their blood pressure is too high and that they are
overweight. If they want to live they must exercise and lose weight. So they go
on a strict diet because their desire to preserve their health has been
strengthened.

The daily reading of the Bible results from a strong desire and resolution
to do so. This is no easy discipline: there are many obstacles to overcome,
both internal and external. You must know the importance of searching the
Scriptures.

(i) The Nature of the Scripture. 'All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be
perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works' [2 Timothy 3.16-17]. The
Bible is a holy book. It is different from every other book. The Word of God
stands apart not only from every serious composition and work of classical
literature that man has written, but also from every piece of religious and
Christian literature. It is to have a unique place both in the time devoted to
it and in the affection in which it is held by every Christian. Henry Martyn, a
famous young missionary of the nineteenth century, made it a rule that if any
book got the affection the Bible alone should have in his heart he would lay
that book aside. John Bunyan was enabled by the Holy Spirit to write The
Pilgrim's Progress, and yet, great book though it is, no Christian has ever
claimed that it is inspired as the Bible is inspired. There are many such books
written by gifted men, but none can claim to be the direct outbreathing of God,
so that what it says God says. That is Scripture's 'grand prerogative', and
that distinctiveness no other book shares, for there is an absolute equivalent
and correlation between what the Bible says and what God says. Only in Holy
Scripture does God speak directly to us.

(ii) The Message of Scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ assures us that
in the Scripture is eternal life. That is, it is the means through which God
communicates eternal life. How can men believe in someone of whom they have not
heard? They must know the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
Scripture is essential to that faith in him by which they may live. Also the
transformation of their personalities to be like the Lord Jesus can only be
accomplished by a constant and conscious exposure to the Bible. 'Desire the
sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby', says Peter [1 Peter 2.2].
Eternal life, whether in the knowledge of Christ, conformity to Him, or growth
in love, is not going to come without the searching of the Scriptures. We are
all dying men and women in a dying world and there is one book alone in which
eternal life is revealed. Let me know that book!

(iii) The Testimony of Scripture. Scripture testifies to the Lord
Jesus Christ: He is the theme of the entire Bible. Broadly speaking the Old
Testament points forward to Jesus' coming and the New Testament points back to
Him. But that is a generalisation which needs clarification, for at every point
the mind and teaching of Christ is revealed in the Scriptures. The Old
Testament prophets spoke by the Spirit of Christ that was within them. The
whole Bible is a revelation of what God in Christ has done, what He promises
and what He requires. The Christian's great passion is to know the mind of
Christ, to understand His Person and His will for His disciples. If I am
passionately concerned to know Jesus where else can I go? 'Search the
Scriptures', Jesus tells me, for there alone is the authoritative revelation of
what God in Christ is and what are His demands upon me.

(iv) The Organic Unity of Scripture. The Bible is a body of truth
which is organically inter-related and interdependent. You cannot isolate a
part of the human body and understand its functions without reference to the
whole. So the Old Testament cannot be understood without the New Testament, and
Paul's letters must be accompanied by a knowledge of the Gospels. Even
individual chapters or verses cannot be understood in isolation from their own
particular or general context. For example, in Luke 18 Jesus tells the parable
of the importunate widow as an illustration of His words that men ought always
to pray and not to faint (v.1). Then He asks that great question, 'When the Son
of Man cometh shall He find faith on the earth?' (v.8); that is, when the Son
of Man comes (whether in judgment upon a congregation or at the end of the
age), will He find this faith in Him that reveals itself in a waiting upon the
Lord in persevering prayer? Scripture is not a string of texts to be used
simply at random, but rather is an organic unit that throbs with life. Even
incidental and comparatively unimportant details will, on sounder and more
intelligent reflection, become rich in meaning.

(v) The Usefulness of Scripture. Life is exceedingly complex: the
prevailing climate in present-day Society is hostile to the Christian faith.
Marx, Darwin and Freud have all contributed to the dominant philosophy of
unbelief that prevails in the Western World. The mass media repeatedly attack
the faith of the Bible. The breakdown of the family, promiscuity, divorce,
abortion - these things present considerable ethical problems to Christians. We
are beset with baffling questions and we need to know what is the right thing
to think and to do. God caused His Word to be written with the peculiar
difficulties of the close of the twentieth century in mind, just as much as any
other period in these 'last days'. Answers to our complex contemporary
questions are found in the Bible and our task is to equip ourselves with the
knowledge of the Word so that all needed insight and strength will be ours.
Laziness is our great temptation. Reliance on knowledge gained in the past is a
great danger. We must be growing Christians. Our convictions, our conduct and
our devotion must be rooted in the Word of God. 'For whatsoever things were
written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and
comfort of the scriptures might have hope.' [Romans 15.4].

There is nothing like the power of affection to strengthen desire. A youth may
struggle to learn the language of a foreign country in school to little avail,
but if he falls in love with a girl from that land how strong is his appetite
for mastering its language. The love of Christ is the strongest constraint to
knowing the Scriptures and if we have little desire for the Bible we should ask
if we indeed know the Saviour or if our first love has been left. Let us begin
here, let us be sure that we are in love with the Word of God: '0 how love I
thy law! it is my meditation all the day' [Psalm 119.97). Does not this create
and maintain our desire to read the Bible?

2 CREATE A TIME

Reading the Bible is not like reading another book. If we do not allocate
particular portions of our time to this activity it will never be done. There is
the sheer size of the Bible: 66 books that cover more than 1,000 pages. And
then there are the intellectual demands which it makes on any reader. The Book
of books is not always easy to understand.

So we use every available moment and are constantly on the alert for
anything that gives us a better understanding of the Word of God. When we read
other books our minds are constantly looking for light on Scripture. When we
listen to sermons it is to grow in our knowledge of the Bible. When we gather
with Christian friends that is still our concern: 'they that feared the Lord
spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of
remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that
thought upon his name' [Malachi 3.16]. But all this is sporadic, and the great
problem, for what can be done at any time may be done at no time. So we
deliberately create a time to study the Word of God, choosing apart of the day
which is set aside for that precise purpose.

These moments will not appear as if by magic. Our whole pattern of life must
be structured with this time in view. Such discipline has nothing to do with a
man's personality. It is easy to admire another's regularity in Bible reading
as, we suppose, the fruit of a naturally disciplined life style, and excuse
one's own more irregular reading as the reflection of a more 'creative'
personality. We deceive ourselves with that attitude. We are creatures made in
the image of God and our heavenly Father is a God of order both in creation and
in redemption. We too function most effectively when we have a scheduled
structure to our lives. So just as most men each morning allow themselves ten
minutes before a shaving mirror to clear the stubble of their beards, and all
of us set aside times to eat our meals each day, so we must create a time to
read the Bible. Someone asked Andrew Bonar why he was always such a cheerful
Christian. 'I never let a day go by without a transaction with the Lord Jesus',
he replied.

When should such a time be? The answer to that can only be - when you are
most alert mentally and can have an undisturbed period of time. Every person is
unique and we must beware of the man who insists that we speak to God before we
speak to anyone else. That is sheer legalism. Most people acknowledge the
morning as the time when they are freshest. There may be a certain glamour
about reading the Bible at midnight when one's fellow-countrymen are at rest,
but that fancy quickly disappears when one staggers to work next morning. Many
people find it difficult to wake up in the morning and that problem is often
caused by going to bed too late at night. More disciplined television viewing
is called for. If you are a slow starter in the morning, do not try to read the
Bible immediately. Wash, dress, have some refreshment and then read. A
housewife may find that getting the children off to school is her first
priority, and then, before beginning her day's work, she is free to use that
quiet period for studying the Scriptures. Others may find that the early
evening, when they get home from work, is the best time. We are all different,
and adult Christians should never attempt to impose their own particular
pattern of reading and prayer upon fellow believers. In this matter we stand individually
responsible to our Master.

Whatever time best suits you when your mind can be free of the clamour of
the day and you can concentrate, that period must be guarded jealously. It will
often come under attack and we shall arid ourselves almost automatically
sacrificing it under pressures. Weakness there will mean weakness everywhere,
while conversely, strength there brings a strength which will be present m
other circumstances. The greatest battles we fight in our Christian lives do
not change; we march that familiar terrain of our victories and our set-backs
all the years of our pilgrimage. The self-denial required to create a daily
time for God's Word is the continued duty of every Christian.

3 MAKE A PLACE FOR GOD'S WORD

You can take a Bible anywhere, and it is one of the great pleasures of the
Christian life to be on a hilltop, or at the seaside, or by a river, reading
the Word. But for regular, disciplined reading a place is needed as free from
distraction and as conducive to study as possible. Our Saviour went to a
garden, Peter had a rooftop, and Elijah an upper room. There is an advantage in
reading the Scriptures day after day in the place which is firmly associated in
your mind with that activity. You can slip into the right frame of mind the
moment you sit down, because you have established the habit of getting down to
study once you are in that place. Make sure it is well lit. Good light is very
important for reading the double columns of a Bible. It should also be properly
ventilated and neither too hot nor too cold. The less you are aware of your
surroundings while reading, the better. Lying down is not the best posture in
which to study the Bible (or any other book for that matter), because it is
essential to stay alert, and even slouching in an easy chair can defeat that
object. Some have knelt while reading the Bible, but kneeling can be painful
and the discomfort quickly distracts from the matter in hand. You may think
that all this is utterly inconsequential, but our posture in devotion is not
unimportant; for example, to kneel is to begin to pray. One humbles oneself in
the presence of God. One prays with one's body. 'My heart and my flesh crieth
out for the living God', says the Psalmist (84.2).

So to read the Bible best, set apart a definite time; go to a regular place
of study; get plenty of light; do not let the air get stuffy, or too warm or
cold, and do not make yourself too comfortable.

4 DEVELOP A PLAN

Effective Bible Study is largely a matter of good habits of work. Begin with
firm determination; begin at once. Never wait until you are in the mood or you
may wait for weeks. Get in the mood by starting to read: the Bible creates its
own mood. As J. C. Ryle says about it - 'The way to do a thing is to do it.'
The way to read the Bible is actually to read it, not wishing and meaning and
resolving and intending and thinking about reading the Bible, but actually
reading it. You will not advance one step until you have done that.

If you have a plan to guide you then you have a head start. Indeed, if you
do not have a plan you will never read the Bible. You may read parts, but never
the whole Book, and you will never gain that familiarity with it which is so
necessary if you are to benefit from the fulness of its message.

There are various plans which, if followed, will take you through the whole
Bible in a year, or even Old Testament once in a year and through the New
Testament and Psalms twice. They are ambitious programmes of reading which
requires men to read at least three or four chapters a day.

To follow such schemes is an ideal for a believer. It is true that there
have been more ambitious goals attempted and attained. Samuel Annesley, John
Wesley's grandfather, as a child of five or six began to read twenty chapters a
day and continued that throughout his life. Arthur Pink wrote to a friend: 'In
my early years . . . I read through the entire Bible three times a year (eight
chapters in the Old Testament and two in the New Testament daily). I steadily
persevered in this for ten years in order to familiarize myself with its
contents, which can only be done by consecutive reading'. (Letters of A. W.
Pink p.23 Banner of Truth). Few Christians today have the stamina for such a
scheme.

Reading the Bible at the table after a meal is a wonderful habit. It should
be the goal for every family. To make the most of it each person should have a
Bible open before him. In that way one's thoughts can be prevented from
wandering too wildly and everyone can join in the discussion after the passage
is read. Such comments are necessary if the main thrust of the passage is to be
understood by all present.

C. H. Spurgeon suggested, 'Every minister ought to read Matthew Henry
entirely and carefully through once at least. I should recommend you to get
through it in the next twelve months after you leave college. Begin at the
beginning and resolve that you will traverse the goodly land from Dan to Beersheba. You will acquire a vast store of sermons if you read with your note-book close
at hand: and as for thoughts, they will swarm around you like twittering
swallows around an old gable towards the close of autumn.' (Commenting and
Commentaries, p.3, Banner of Truth).

The chief aim of studying the Scriptures is not the amount read or even the
reading itself. The aim is to know God. It is not to pacify our consciences
that we are obeying our minister's exhortations and reading the Scriptures. Yet
encouragements to persevere in reading can help, especially in the initial
stages. For example, a congregation could adopt a scheme and distribute an
outline throughout the membership. One of the readings in the Sunday service
could be the set chapter for the day, at least in the first months. In Wales children memorize verses from the Scriptures during the week and recite them on the
Lord's Day. They could select verses from the passages allocated as week
follows week.

In whatever ways we adapt the suggested plan to our own particular needs we
must aim at reading two or three chapters at a sitting, or a whole book or
epistle. There are many precious things we shall never see unless we read the
Word of God in large chunks. We would never read fifteen lines of any other
piece of literature and then set it aside, believing that we had thus satisfied
the author's original intentions. To see the whole massive movement of biblical
thought, the Scriptures need to be read frequently and from Genesis to
Revelation. The Christian must be content with nothing less. He will not
understand the individual verses unless he has the framework of knowledge which
a larger acquaintance with Scripture provides. The more he reads the more
comprehensible the Bible becomes.

Then a reading strategy should be adopted. One of the most popular is known
by the code SQ3R which stands for 'Survey: Question: Read: Recall: Review'.

Firstly, Survey the passage. If a new book in the Bible is being
started, make it your business to discover from a Bible Survey or a Study Bible
something about that book. If your memory is faulty, re-read the passage studied
on the previous day.

Secondly, question the passage as you read it. Interrogate it. What
does it say? There are all these words before us but what is their meaning? We
are looking at the Word of God and every single letter has been deliberately
chosen. So we approach it with the awareness that every word has a purpose and
message. We begin with this great concern to know what that can be. Perhaps in
the portion we are reading God has an argument with the world, or with the
church, and we must ask what is God's message at this particular point. We must
use every possible aid within the range of our God-given abilities. We want to
know the meaning of these words in their context, why they were written and
what is their message. For example, why does the New Testament always say
through faith and never on account of faith? Why does it speak of faith into
Christ? Why does it speak of baptism into Christ? God has used great care in
the inspiration of each word and we must understand and grasp the meaning. So
we will use any notes, commentaries, concordances and dictionaries that may
help us. What is the message and the argument at this point? What is the
doctrine insisted upon? What is the experience opened to me? This is something
of tremendous importance. I am to approach the chapter brimful of questions,
longing to get the meaning, not of verses only, but of whole sections, and
using every possible help in order to understand.

Thirdly, read the passage, applying it to yourself. Come with your
background, pressures, stresses and problems, and say, How does this word
relate to me? Is there a doctrine for me to learn? Is there an error I should
avoid? Is there a sin against which I am being warned? Is there a promise
extended to me? Is there a word of rebuke, correction or comfort? Is there some
duty I have been neglecting? Is there some guidance for my daily life? I read
firstly to know the meaning and I have to respond to it with my mind. But the
passage also speaks to my whole emotional life. What should I feel concerning
this passage? What is my emotional reaction in response to it? Joy? Shame?
Fear? How does this word speak to me at this very moment? What is its message?

Fourthly, recall to yourself the content of the passage you have just
read. If, for example, you were to write out the teaching and message of
this passage how much of it could you recapture? How accurate would your
recollection be?

Fifthly, review the section. Go through it again to see if you were
right in what it was teaching.

There can be many variations of this 'SQ3R' strategy of reading. There is no
need for our reading habits to be stereotyped and identical. You may want to
read with a pen in your hand and a notebook, because writing makes an exact
man. Certainly stick to using one Bible and making notes in its margin and
perhaps employing 'emphasizer' felt pens to colour certain verses: all this
helps our largely visual memories to remind us where in the Scripture we found
certain lessons which were profitable.

The briefest regular perusal of Scripture has deep and largely unconscious
effects upon us. So even if your achievements on certain days fall short of
your desires, do not be discouraged, for 'in due season we shall reap if we
faint not' [Galatians 6.9].

Finally, meditating on the portion read is a vital but neglected means of
grace. Better indeed to meditate upon one verse than hurriedly to read a
chapter, but there need be no dichotomy between reading three chapters and
thinking over one verse. Select a verse, perhaps writing it down on a card to
help you memorize it and ponder over it; that can be good for that day,
'meditation standing to reading as mastication does to eating'. (See Arthur
Pink's Letters, p.24, for an example he gives of how he meditated upon Psalm
119.105 "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path'.

5 CULTIVATE PROPER ATTITUDES

(i) Beware of a barren intellectualism. The Jews of Jesus' own day
searched the Scriptures, even committing large sections of them to memory. 'The
rabbis were strong advocates of memorization. Teachings were supposed to be
repeated at least four times so that students could get a grip on them, and
there were humorous quips to this effect. A man who repeats his chapter one
hundred times is not to be compared with the man who repeats it one hundred and
one times. Rabbi Perida recommended four hundred repetitions for a dull pupil,
then four hundred more! Only by dint of repetition could a passage be put in a
student's "purse" so that it would be his to keep and use' (Christian
Meditation, Edmund P. Clowney, p.23). Yet with all their knowledge of the text
of Scripture the Jews who heard Jesus would not come to Him that they might
have eternal life. They had a masterly intellectual knowledge of the content of
Scripture but failed to respond to that knowledge by believing in Christ. The
study of God's Word is not an end in itself, neither is a correct understanding
of its meaning to be the goal of our study. A man may understand all mysteries
and all knowledge and yet be nothing. Eminent, well-qualified teachers of the
Bible may yet be strangers to God. Does my knowledge of the Scriptures bring me
with greater devotion to the Christ who is contained in every chapter? The
prize in reading the Bible is to come to the Christ of the Bible [Philippians
3.14].

(ii) Relax. If you take up this scheme and begin regularly to read
the Bible it will be a tremendous achievement, but it will do you little good
if you approach it in a spirit of dogged determination and tension. Certainly
strong resolution is required, but you must realize that there will be days
when you will not read the Bible at all. There are days of sickness when you
are too ill to read the Word of God. There are times when nothing goes right
and we are subject to unexpected pressures. There are periods of spiritual
barrenness and despondency in which our taste for the things of God well-nigh
disappears. During such periods remember that any particular scheme of Bible
reading is a human invention. It is a suggested outline to help you to become
familiar with the Word of God. Remember that your salvation does not depend
upon the reading of the Bible every day. It depends upon what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done for His people by His life and death. If you miss more than a
day of Bible reading, do not attempt to catch up on the chapters missed. You
will read them next time you go through the Scriptures. What is important is
always to be coming back to the Bible after periods of neglect. Do not get new
tensions and fresh guilt if you find your own spiritual capacity unable as yet
to follow regularly this whole scheme.

(iii) Be forgiving. When things go wrong in our Christian lives it is
natural to feel terrible, to question our salvation and to wonder whether we
ever truly trusted Jesus Christ. The Christian life is exceedingly complex, as
the experience of the Psalmist shows. At times he may rejoice in the way of
God's testimonies; and at other times his feet are almost gone: 'my steps had
well-nigh slipped', he says [Psalm 73.2). Bible reading, like a thermometer,
can test our sense of God's nearness, but it is no gauge of our justification.
God declares all who believe in Jesus to be righteous only through trusting in
Him. Reading the Bible regularly adds nothing to the perfection of God's
justifying grace. We read to grow in our understanding of the implications of
justification for the Christian life. We read to know more of the mercy of God
to sinners who believe. If we come to God and say simply to him, 'Lord, I am
sorry that I have neglected thy Word again and not loved it as I should', then
we believe that in that moment he pardons our sins, casting them into the sea
of his forgetfulness, remembering them no more. We ought also to forgive
ourselves at such periods and not be hard on ourselves, especially if we are
young Christians. There is little purpose in reading the Bible merely out of
conviction of past neglect.

(iv) Be humble. Do not expect to master the Bible in a day, or a
month, or a year. Rather expect often to be puzzled by its contents. It is not
all equally clear. Great men of God often feel like absolute novices when they
read the Word. The apostle Peter said that there were some things hard to be
understood in the epistles of Paul [2 Peter 3.16). I am glad he wrote those
words because I have felt that often. So do not expect always to get an
emotional charge or a feeling of quiet peace when you read the Bible. By the
grace of God you may expect that to be a frequent experience, but often you
will get no emotional response at all. Let the Word break over your heart and
mind again and again as the years go by, and imperceptibly there will come
great changes in your attitude and outlook and conduct. You will probably be
the last to recognize these. Often you will feel very, very small, because
increasingly the God of the Bible will become to you wonderfully great. So go
on reading it until you can read no longer, and then you will not need the
Bible any more, because when your eyes close for the last time in death, and
never again read the Word of God in Scripture you will open them to the Word of
God in the flesh, that same Jesus of the Bible whom you have known for so long,
standing before you to take you for ever to His eternal home.